Efforts pay off Courting votes in Port Aransas on Tuesday, March 2, worked for Joe Mc- Comb, who was elected Precinct 4 Nueces County Commissioner. STAFF PHOTO BY MURRAY JUDSON Port Aransas and the rest of Nueces County Precinct 4 will be represented by a new commissioner after Joe McComb defeated incumbent Chuck Cazalas in balloting Tuesday, March 2.

Since no Democrats filed for the position, the winner in the Republican Primary will be unopposed in the General Election in November.

While McComb is new to some, he is a familiar face to others, having served as county commissioner prior to Cazalas’ election. McComb had stepped down to run for county judge. He was successful in the primary, but was defeated by Democratic Terry Shamsie, now judge of County Court at Law No. 5.

McComb was supported in his bid to return as county commissioner by 242 Port Aransas voters (54.50 percent) to the 202 (45.50 percent) who cast ballots for Cazalas.

In Port Aransas, 485 Republicans cast ballots in early and Election Day voting. That amounts to just over 6 percent of the 3,075 voters registered in Port Aransas.

Precinct 19 voters, which is primarily composed of Port Aransas, but includes a portion of the City of Corpus Christi on Mustang Island south of Port Aransas, favored Republican incumbent Gov. Rick Perry over challengers Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Debra Medina. Perry scored 276 votes to Hutchison’s 147 and Medina’s 58.

Bill White carried the day in the governor’s race on the Democratic ticket with 83.95 percent, or 68 votes, of the Precinct 19 vote. His nearest contender was Farouk Shami who collected 12 votes, or 14.82 percent of the local Democratic vote.

U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz was unopposed in his bid for the Democratic to continue to represent District 27.

On the GOP side, R. Blake Farenthold, with 141 votes, and James Duerr, with 106 votes, will go to an April 13 run-off to decide who goes against Ortiz in the General Election.

Incumbent District Clerk Patsy Perez will hold on to her job after defeating challenger Sylvia T. Cueva. In Port Aransas, Perez garnered 49 votes to Cueva’s 13. Cueva does not have a challenger in the General Election.

Nueces County Judge Loyd Neal, while without an opponent in the primary, will face Democrat Clarissa Gonzalez who won out in voting countywide. Port Aransas voters also favored Gonzales, 59.38 percent to 40.63 percent for her opponent, Juan Reyna.

Unopposed candidates in the primary and general elections will returning to office include Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace Duncan Neblett, who garnered 387 votes (79.79 percent) and County Clerk Diana Barrera who was favored with 54.76 percent of the votes.

A surge in early voting near the end of the early voting period last week sent the total number of early voters to 269.

Early voting at the Community Center had topped out at 121 on Tuesday, Feb. 23. However, 65 or 66 voters came in the final day of early voting, on Friday, Feb. 26, said election judge Joe Bomarito.

Early voting in the run-off election will be Monday, April 5, through Friday, April 9.